The May jobs report just blew past expectations—and maybe too far for markets

The labor market delivered another whopping win on Friday: 172,000 jobs in May, when economists had expected 88,000.

The even stronger surprise was in the rearview mirror: March was revised up by 29,000 to 214,000, April by 64,000 to 179,000. Combined, the two months were 93,000 stronger than previously reported.

Though such a strong labor market is good news for those fearing the economy was stalling—or that AI was eating jobs—it could make investors wince. The strong print could kill what has been left of rate-cut hopes for this year, especially as inflation persists and the conflict in Iran drags on. The 10-year bond yield jumped about 6 basis points to above 4.5%.

Unemployment held........

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